Senegal Presidential Election 2012

Senegal Presidential Election 2012, The moment that crystallized this nation’s reputation as one of Africa’s established democracies came the morning after the presidential election 12 years ago. In the neoclassical presidential palace, Senegal’s leader stayed awake all night, counting and re-counting the results that showed in no uncertain terms that he had lost.

President Abdou Diouf could have rigged the election from the start, as his neighbor to the north in Mauritania had the habit of doing. He could have stacked the court in charge of validating the election with supporters, the strategy his neighbor to the south in Ivory Coast would one day put to good use.

Or he could have deployed the army to keep his grasp on power like in nearby Guinea, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau all of which share a border with Senegal, a nation of 12.4 million on Africa’s western edge.

Instead the 64-year-old president emerged from his office, told his aides to draft a statement conceding defeat and picked up the phone to congratulate the man who had beaten him, Abdoulaye Wade.

At 9:27 p.m. this Sunday, Wade followed his predecessor’s lead, picked up the phone and for the second time in the history of this coastal nation, he called to congratulate his rival.